First Solar and SunPower Plan to Form Joint-Venture Yieldco

The companies expect to register for an initial public offering for the new venture, according to a statement Monday. They didn’t say when that may occur or how much they would seek to raise through the IPO. The shares surged in after-hours trading. The SunPower-First Solar venture would be part of a growing trend in the renewable-energy industry to pool projects into publicly traded entities that offer shareholders payouts, known as yieldcos . Companies that build power plants, including Abengoa SA and NRG Energy Inc., sell completed projects to their yieldco affiliates and use that capital to fund new power plants. “The two companies have been cats and dogs in terms of whose technology is better, but at the end of the day it’s less relevant as you look at the cost-effectiveness of solar and the value that can be extracted,” Jeff Osborne, a Cowen & Co. analyst, said by te...